WINNIPEG — A woman in Winnipeg tightly embraced her 12-year-old son for the first time in three years early Thursday morning when the child was reunited with his family after his liberation from Iraqi militants.

Cheers went up from a large crowd on hand when Emad Mishko Tamo arrived at James Armstrong Richardson International Airport, just weeks after he was freed from captivity.

He was separated from his mother after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant displaced thousands of members of the Kurdish-minority Yazidis in 2014, but he was freed earlier this summer in the city of Mosul.

His mother, Nofa Mihlo Zaghla, has been living in Winnipeg as a refugee but it wasn't until a relative recognized his photo on social media that she knew her son was still alive.

"Thank you Canada," said Emad while surrounded by a throng of relatives and supporters at the airport.

Speaking through an interpreter, Emad said there are a thousand other children like him who are still being held captive and he wants to share his story so that they can be helped.

A refugee co-ordinator said the boy, who is still recovering from gunshot wounds, will be closely monitored by doctors while he settles into his new life in Winnipeg.

Emad was brought to Winnipeg through the efforts of the Yazidi Association of Manitoba.

Hadji Hesso, the association's president, said Emad was accompanied by UNHCR representatives on his flight to Canada, and that they brought him to a private room at the airport to reconnect with his family prior to walking out to the waiting crowd in the arrivals area.

Hesso said Emad's siblings, uncle, cousins and grandmother were also in the room.

"As soon as he opened the door, he kind of (said) 'Wow!' and he ran to his mother, with hugging and kissing and his mother started crying," said Hesso, who was present for the reunion.

"It was emotional for everybody whether you know Emad (and) the mother or not," Hesso said.

The Yazidi Association of Manitoba, the Kurdish Initiative for Refugees and Winnipeg Friends of Israel went public with Emad's story last month to try to get Canadian officials to act quickly to bring the boy to Canada.

According to a letter written by the association to members of Parliament, Zaghla lived peacefully with her husband and six children in Iraq until the summer of 2014 when her village was attacked.

They were held captive for two years, during which time the association said Zaghla was forced to serve as a sex slave to the militants.

As they were moved from place to place, she became separated from her husband and her two oldest sons, and when she managed to escape with four of her children during an attack on their compound, she made her way to Canada with no expectation she would see them again.

Her husband — Emad's father — as well as one of Emad's brothers remain unaccounted for, Hesso said.

Hesso said Zaghla expressed how she wished they could have been on the flight to Canada with Emad.

"But at the same time she's happy at least she has one of them back. So you can't put it in words how happy she is," Hesso said.

Federal Immigration spokeswoman Lisa Filipps said last month that the department was acting to expedite all Yazidi cases and that the government was working with partners in the region to identify vulnerable Yazidi women and children.

A Prince George daycare owner is earning praise after she used mixed martial arts moves to fight off a man allegedly attempting to abduct children from a playground.

The incident happened after Chelsi Sabbe took six children, aged one to seven, to the Harwin Elementary School playground on Tuesday morning. Most of the children were on the equipment, but two were further away on a seesaw when Sabbe said she noticed a man entering the play area.

"Oh there was not a chance in hell, pardon my language, that he was getting away with one of my kids," she told HuffPost Canada in an interview Thursday.

She immediately rushed closer to the children, but the man beat her there — grabbing a three-year-old boy.

She chased and caught up to the man, wrapped her arm around his neck until they both fell and he let go of the child.

Oh there was not a chance in hell, pardon my language, that he was getting away with one of my kids.

The man snatched a five-year-old boy next, Sabbe said. But this time she kicked him, causing the man to fall. She hit him in throat and said she took a punch in the process.

She yelled for help during the whole ordeal and told the other children to climb as high as they could on the playground equipment.

The man got up from the ground and tried to grab a seven-year-old girl next, but Sabbe pushed the man off the playground equipment. He continued to punch at her.

A woman in a house nearby eventually heard Sabbe's cries and opened her door. Sabbe grabbed the man and held him in a headlock and told the kids to run to the neighbour's house.

The neighbour called the police and kept the children inside with her.

"The kids were amazing. I had a seven-year-old and a five-year-old with me. The five-year-old had just gotten out of this guy's arms, who was telling him 'Hurry up, let's go! Hurry up, come on,'" she said, adding that the older children helped the younger children to safety. "It was just unreal."

After the neighbour yelled that police were on their way, the man wriggled himself out of Sabbe's grip and ran away. The police arrested a suspect a short time later.

Abduction suspect identified

Kenneth John, 35, of Prince George faces two counts of kidnapping and one count each of assault and obstructing a police officer.

Police said they received a report about another attempted abduction of a boy nearby. The suspect fit the same description as the earlier report.

Sabbe said she was shaken up after the attempted abduction, and spent a few hours in the hospital getting her bruises checked out.

As soon as she said 'the police are on their way,' he is wrestling. He is wrestling hard...he does get out and he starts running.

It had been years since Sabbe used her MMA skills. She said her father, a kickboxing instructor, had taught her moves. The community rallied around her after the foiled abduction, she said.

After the whole ordeal, Sabbe said the one piece of advice she has is for other caretakers of children: wear a fanny pack or small bag that can't be knocked loose with a phone, tactical flashlight and emergency consent cards packed inside.

Sleeping Giants told iPolitics that the pace of cancellations accelerated in the wake of the deadly white nationalist violence this past weekend in Charlottesville, Va., which left counter-protester Heather Heyer dead and 19 others injured.

Rebel Media was streaming the Charlottesville protest live when a car plowed into counter-protesters on Saturday. Prior to that, the Rebel's Faith Goldy appeared to rationalize the white nationalist protest, referring to the protesters as "patriots." Among the protesters were members of the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis.

More about the fallout from the violence in Charlottesville:

The Rebel, launched by controversial personality Ezra Levant after the Sun News Network folded in 2015, has been embattled by controversy ever since.

Levant himself sought to distance his website from the white supremacist "alt-right" movement in a column on Monday.

He said that though he was enamoured with the "alt-right" when he first heard the term a year ago, he now no longer supports it because it "has changed into something new, especially since Trump's election. Now the leading figure — at least in terms of media attention — is Richard Spencer, and other white nationalists."

Levant, who calls himself a "proud Jew," stressed that "we are not alt-right. ... That term now effectively means racism, anti-Semitism and tolerance of neo-Nazism."

But Levant has said the site has never been particularly reliant on advertising. In tweets this week, he asserted that Rebel Media has more subscribers than the Toronto Star, one of Canada's largest-circulation newspapers.

11. Our YouTube subs? The same as last week. Paywall subs? Up a bit from last week, but nothing remarkable. Crowdfunding? Strong for August.

White nationalism is on the rise across North America — and Canada is no exception. Recently in Charlottesville, Va., hundreds of white men and women took to the streets, claiming to protest the removal of the statue of Robert E. Lee, a general from the Confederate army, a slaveholder and a racist icon.

Calling their march "Unite the Right," they carried torches, wore swastikas, waved the Confederate flag, donned KKK cloaks, yelled "blood and soil," and trapped a group of people and clergy in a church, including Cornel West and Reverend Dr. Traci Blackmon, who feared for their lives.

The next morning, the white nationalists marched again, this time with guns and bats, beating up counter-protesters and anti-fascist groups who courageously stood up to bigotry. Later that afternoon, a white nationalist allegedly used his Dodge Charger to ram through a crowd of peaceful counter-protesters, injuring dozens and killing 32-year-old paralegal Heather Heyer.

Faith Goldy, a prominent voice for Rebel Media, a Canadian far-right online platform with extremist and white supremacist views, was there in Charlottesville that day. The 28-year-old Canadian's usual brand of hateful speech was overshadowed by the absurdity of referring to the atrocities and violence by white nationalists in Charlottesville as a rising "white racial consciousness."

The Rebel's presence at the rally was enough to compel Brian Lilley, one of its co-founders, to announce on Monday that he's leaving the conservative media website. In a message posted to Facebook, he said he "no longer feel[s] comfortable being part of the group." His reasons? "What may have started as a concern over the harsh tone taken on some subjects came to a head with this weekend's events in Charlottesville, Va.

What anyone from The Rebel was doing at a so-called 'unite the right' rally that was really an anti-Semitic white power rally is beyond me. Especially not a rally dedicated to keeping up a statue of Robert E. Lee, a man that whatever he stood for, also fought on the wrong side of history and the wrong side of America's bloodiest conflict."

The events in Charlottesville are disturbing and tragic, and the Trump administration has emboldened racists throughout the U.S. — but Canada has a rising tide of white supremacists within its own borders that is growing in power.

White nationalism has been so successful, in part, due to a lack of critical engagement of race relations in Canada.

Canadians have a deep investment in seeing themselves as more enlightened than their counterparts to the south, as if racism and bigotry suddenly stop at the U.S./Canada border. But the racial haven narrative of Canada is a myth, and the idea that anti-Semitism, racism, Islamophobia and anti-immigrant hatred is "not as bad" as in the States is a dangerous one.

Groups like the Proud Boys in Halifax, the Aryan Guard in Alberta, Blood and Honour Canada, the Canadian Nationalist Party and the Heritage Front are just some names in a wildly under-researched network of people in Canada who either fully identify as white supremacists or refer to themselves as white nationalists and the alt-right.

It is integral to note that white nationalism and the alt-right adopt white supremacist thinking, but deny white supremacist identities. This denial has allowed for the normalization of ideas that would be rejected or considered extremist in other contexts.

White nationalism has been so successful, in part, due to a lack of critical engagement of race relations in Canada. The inability to talk about racism, further complicated by the denial of its pervasiveness in the country, has created a void that made space for right-wing extremists to co-opt the language of the left — like the need for "white racial consciousness" and the term "conservative" being equated with "nigger"—because they don't actually have experiences of racial or national oppression to draw from.

White men, in particular, have claimed that there is an attack on free speech — when in reality there is a deep desire to preserve and protect their code of hate speech — all the while expressing themselves in terms of being oppressed. In reality, the most consistently "oppressive" thing to happen to white men in Canada is political correctness.

Much white nationalist rhetoric is centred around the idea that white men are losing their voice. But the truth is that white men aren't losing their voice; theirs just isn't the only voice out there anymore. Across North America, women, people of colour, Muslims, immigrants, Black and Indigenous people are telling their stories, creating new platforms and challenging social norms.

What happened in Charlottesville will act as a blueprint to white nationalists across the globe feeling empowered by acts of violence and chaos. White Canadians who believe in justice have got to show up and push back against white supremacy as fervently as those far more vulnerable do every day.

When it comes to fighting against white supremacy, it's not just what you stand for, it's who you sit with. Conversations need to be happening in homes, at work, in schools and in churches on equity, liberation and how important it is to fight against hatred and bigotry when it shows itself.

Canada has an opportunity to embody the narrative of being different that was claimed but never earned. White nationalism will either be a chapter of Canadian history denounced for its hatred, or it will build on a history of denial and white supremacy already a part of the national narrative.

We are inundated with birth stories in our day-to-day lives. Glance at the magazine rack while in line at the grocery store and you'll see at least one headline announcing a new celebrity baby. Or scroll your social media feed — just last month the story of Beyoncé and Jay-Z's twins "broke the internet."

The birth stories above are grim but they are not predestined — they can change when communities become catalysts for transformative change.

In a small school in Honduras, a group of boys are gathered in a circle. A facilitator is leading the group in a trust-building exercise, creating a safe and open space where the boys can reflect on gender stereotypes and ideas of masculinity. One young man explains how he feels pressure to act aggressively. Another reflects on his younger sister being afraid to walk to school alone.

When we think about changing these stories the first thing that comes to mind is probably not a group of young men participating in trust-building exercises and discussing masculinity. Unfortunately, unequal gender relations and values are often at the root of poor health outcomes for women and girls.

In areas where Plan International and its partners work on maternal, newborn, child, and sexual and reproductive health projects, men make most of the decisions.

In Nigeria, when asked about family planning, one woman said, "the woman first has to ask for permission from the husband [to seek family planning services], if he allows her, she will go ahead and if he doesn't allow her she cannot."

Because of their age, adolescent girls bear the brunt of these injustices. They are financially dependent on their partners and families and have less decision-making power. They also face a higher risk of complications with pregnancy and childbirth.

Pregnant adolescents are often the most isolated. They are distanced from their peers and often barred from school. If they are pregnant and unmarried they can face enormous stigma, ostracized by their families and communities and unable to access health services. An adolescent girl in Senegal told us, "as soon as the doctor knows you're not married he can have prejudices against you and change his behaviour and not receive you in the same fashion as married women."

It is not simply a matter of distributing contraceptives, improving health services, or changing laws — though these are critical steps. Real change requires sustained work to tackle the root causes of gender discrimination and inequality in every sphere — from private relationships to public systems. Shifting entrenched and structural norms is not easy, but it is the only way to uproot the inequalities that prevent girls and women from realizing their rights.

Plan International Canada works to ignite and support these conversations in communities in Ghana, Haiti, Bangladesh, Senegal, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi and Nigeria, helping to change the birth story for adolescent girls and women in these communities.

Youth-led conversations, like the one in the classroom in Honduras are critical to ensuring sexual and reproductive health rights for girls. In a similar session in Tanzania, a young man shared: "I think for us who have changed, we should just continue to educate other men through our actions in such a way that our friends who have not yet changed will learn from our actions."

You can be part of this real change. Join the movement of Canadians who pledge to stand with Canada to change the birth story — because they believe that every adolescent girl, woman and child has the right to be healthy and to live a life free of discriminationand help change the birth story today.

]]>http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/plan-international-canada/youth-are-helping-to-change-the-birth-story-around-the-world_a_23074161/0SfWab23074161Plan International CanadaAMP: HuffPost CanadaOtherThu, 17 Aug 2017 20:49:00 +000015030033572403230002017-08-17T20:49:52+00:00Wildfires are sweeping B.C. Close to 900 have burned through 600,000 hectares so far this year, blanketing western North America with smoke. Fighting them has cost more than $230 million — and the season is far from over.

It's not just B.C. Thousands of people from B.C. to California have fled homes as fires rage. Greenland is experiencing the largest blaze ever recorded, one that Prof. Stef Lhermitte of Delft University in the Netherlands called "a rare and unusual event." Fires have spread throughout Europe, North America and elsewhere. In June, dozens of people died in what's being called Portugal's worst fire ever. Meanwhile, from Saskatchewan to Vietnam to New Zealand, floods have brought landslides, death and destruction.

What will it take to wake us up to the need to address climate change? Fires and floods have always been here, and are often nature's way of renewing ecosystems — but as the world warms, they're increasing in frequency, size and severity. Experts warn wildfires could double in number in the near future, with the Pacific Northwest seeing five or six times as many.

In the western U.S., annual average temperatures have increased by two degrees Celsius and the fire season has grown by three months since the 1970s, leading to "new era of western wildfires," according to a recent study led by University of Colorado Boulder wildfire experts, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Climate change doesn't necessarily start the fires — lightning, unattended campfires, carelessly tossed cigarette butts and sparks from machinery are major causes — but it creates conditions for more and larger fires. Lightning, which causes up to 35 per cent of Canada's wildfires and is responsible for 85 per cent of the area burned annually, increases as temperatures rise, with studies showing 12 per cent more lightning strikes for each degree Celsius of warming.

Drier, shorter winters and earlier snow melt extend fire seasons. As the atmosphere warms, it holds more moisture, some of which it draws from forests and wetlands, and increasing precipitation is not enough to offset the drying. This means fuel sources ignite more easily and fires spread faster over greater areas. Outbreaks of pests such as mountain pine beetles — previously kept in check by longer, colder winters — have also killed and dried forests, adding fuel to the fires. Because trees and soils hold moisture on slopes, fires can also increase the risk of flash floods when rains finally arrive.

The human and economic impacts are staggering — from property destruction to firefighting and prevention to loss of valuable resources and ecosystems. As human populations expand further into wild areas, damages and costs are increasing.

Health impacts from smoke put people — especially children and the elderly — at risk and drive health care costs up. Wildfires now kill more than 340,000 people a year, mainly from smoke inhalation.

Our primary focus should be on doing all we can to slow global warming.

Fires also emit CO2, creating feedback loops and exacerbating climate change. Boreal forests in Canada and Russia store large amounts of carbon and help regulate the climate, but they're especially vulnerable to wildfires.

Suggested solutions are wide-ranging. The authors of the PNAS study recommend letting some wildfires burn in areas uninhabited by people, setting more "controlled" fires to reduce undergrowth fuels and create barriers, thinning dense forests, discouraging development in fire-prone areas and strengthening building codes.

These adaptive measures are important, as are methods to prevent people from sparking fires, but our primary focus should be on doing all we can to slow global warming.

According to NASA, Earth's average surface temperature has risen by 1.1 C since the late 19th century, with most warming occurring over the past 35 years, and 16 of the 17 warmest years occurring since 2001. Eight months of 2016 were the warmest on record. Oceans have also been warming and acidifying quickly, Arctic ice has rapidly decreased in extent and thickness, glaciers are retreating worldwide, and sea levels have been rising at an accelerating pace. Record high temperature events have been increasing while low temperature events have decreased, and extreme weather events are becoming more common in many areas.

Today's wildfires are a wake-up call. If we are serious about our Paris Agreement commitments, we can't build more pipelines, expand oil sands, continue fracking or exploit extreme Arctic and deep-sea oil.

"They had to send a notice which mentions exclusively the rate that the people were paying and the new rate," said lawyer Pierre Boivin, who represents the consumers.

"They also have to mention that the consumer would have 30 days to cancel the contract if they don't agree with this increase, and that's not what Netflix sent. They did not respect this provision of the Consumer Protection Act."

Boivin's Montreal law firm, Kugler Kandestin, is acting on behalf of Frederic Seigneur and other Quebecers — an estimated 1.45 million subscribers in the province.

The action has not yet been given the go-ahead by a judge, but Boivin said he hopes to have it in a few months time.

A public relations firm that deals with the company said Thursday that Netflix does not comment on ongoing litigation.

Earlier this month, it announced it was hiking prices for new members, effective immediately, and would do the same for existing users after notifying them by email in the coming weeks.

​​​​​​​Netflix has invested heavily in producing its own original content in recent years, including "House of Cards,'' "Ozark'' and in a slate of feature films bought at international film festivals.

The Quebec suit would extend to any rate hike by Netflix since Aug. 11, 2014, and Boivin said there appears to have been just one, in 2016.

"When a company wants to do business in Quebec, it must minimally respect the law." Pierre Boivin, Montreal lawyer

Because the suit argues on the basis of Quebec legislation, other Canadian users are exempted, he said, adding Quebec subscribers wouldn't have to do anything to take part in the suit.

The class action seeks a reimbursement of the fees paid since the 2016 hike — $1 to $2 a month depending on the subscription.

Boivin said that works out to roughly $14 million as of now, with lawyers seeking an additional $7.5 million in punitive damages.

"When a company wants to do business in Quebec, it must minimally respect the law — in this case, the Consumer Protection Act," he said. "They had to send a notice of the rate hike, which we argue they did not do."

Decades of attack on the stability of pensions in Canada is nothing short of a crisis looming over the future of our economy, and it must be addressed now before too much damage is done.

We are already beginning to see the effect of past pension cuts.

The stark fact is that fewer and fewer Canadians can look forward to a decent pension. As well, with all the pressures of daily life and raising families, few of us find it possible to save for retirement.

Consider that just over 20 years ago, only 3.9 per cent of seniors lived in poverty. By 2015, the rate was 14.3 per cent — something to be ashamed of, and the situation is unlikely to get better as pensions continue to be attacked.

Seniors spend their pension benefits on the day-to-day things they need: food, clothing, shelter, maybe some travel and gifts for the grandkids. It's the kind of basic, everyday spending that keep shops open and companies profitable. When pensions are cut, or in some cases eliminated, that spending drops, and the economy suffers.

What is truly costly is setting up a system in which seniors in the future will not have the money to cover basic living costs, let alone help to drive a consumer economy.

As well, those with good pensions tend to rely less on public services. This benefits us all, and must be a priority for policymakers and employers.

Employers and many politicians will tell us that decent pensions are too costly. Labour leaders hear that at the bargaining table all too often. But what is truly costly is setting up a system in which seniors in the future will not have the money to cover basic living costs, let alone help to drive a consumer economy.

All too often, employers take the shortcut of cutting pensions to address immediate issues, cutting the future incomes and spending ability of the next generation of retirees in the name of cost savings today. It's a short-term gain, but it results in long-term pain for many.

This is an issue not just for workers and their employers, but governments as well.

Our federal government has done some good things, including returning the age of eligibility for the Old Age Security to 65 and boosting the Canada Pension Plan, but other measures have not been as positive.

Bill C-27, now stalled at second reading in the House of Commons, would allow defined benefit pension plans (which guarantee a decent pension for life) to be converted to target benefit plans in federally regulated sectors and Crown corporations. This means that workers who spent their working lives building a secure pension, and planning their retirement accordingly, could suddenly see it pulled out from under them.

While the future of C-27 remains unclear, we've seen what can happen with target plans.

Just last week, Unifor was forced to take drastic action after Northstar Aerospace refused to top up pensions for its workers and retirees after a deficit in its pension that will result in a 24 per cent cut to benefits because the company is closing. The union occupied the plant, and before being ordered out by the labour board, we were able to make the issue a national story.

The occupation managed to put pensions on the radar of many Canadians, who learned about a big, profitable company that could easily afford to top up its promised pensions but was simply choosing not to do so. Legally the company can get away from it, but that's not that point. Corporations should morally and ethically have a role and a responsibility to give seniors their fair share. It's only right, especially when you consider the hefty profits that companies such as Northstar or Sears make on the backs of workers after years of service.

This is just one incident, but it illustrates two vital issues: the threat posed to pensions, and the need to make the public aware. Both must be addressed.

It is vital to get the message out about the importance of good defined benefit pension plans to workers, employers, policy makers and the general public — many of whom do not yet have a decent pension themselves.

The labour movement will continue to take up this fight. Not just Unifor, but all unions and labour bodies will need to push for decent pensions to ensure a stable future for our economy.

Organized labour can also help by setting a good example. At Unifor, we encourage all staff to retire by age 65, even though the law no longer requires it. This is because we believe that workers have a responsibility to make way for another generation.

As well, when workers know that they will retire by age 65, and will need to ensure a strong income for, hopefully, decades to follow, they fight harder for decent pensions during their working lives — and that can only be a good thing.

"While we cannot ignore the outrage we feel, together we must renew our commitment to protect the freedom found in societies that promote unity, openness and inclusion,'' wrote Trudeau, who has been out of the spotlight on a family vacation in British Columbia this week.

"Spain, we grieve with you and denounce hate and violence in all of its forms. Canada will continue working with the international community to fight terrorism and build a world where we can all feel safe and secure.''

The attack happened shortly before 5:30 p.m. local time.

Spain, we grieve with you and denounce hate and violence in all of its forms.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Carles Puigdemont, president of Spain's Catalonia region, told a news conference two suspects had been arrested.

Spanish authorities say 13 people were confirmed dead and 80 were hurt, at least 15 of them seriously. The latest reports said 23 people were in hospital with moderate injuries and 43 more had been lightly injured.

The attack occurred just over a kilometre from Canada's consulate in Barcelona.

Global Affairs says Canadians in the Spanish city should monitor local media, including social media, for information and can contact the local consulate or the Emergency Watch and Response Centre in Ottawa for help.

Charles Mordret, a Quebecer who spends a lot of time in Barcelona, was not far from the area when he heard something had happened and started going towards it.

"People were coming in the opposite direction and I ended up going into a cafe,'' Mordret told La Presse canadienne.

Initial reports suggested one of the suspects may have been hiding in a bar just off the popular tourist strip but police later dismissed those reports.

Mordret said there were a lot of people on the street when it happened, but they cleared away.

"There are a lot of police officers. Every street is blocked off and at each corner there's a police cruiser. Helicopters are flying over the area. The streets are empty.''

Police cordoned off the area and metro stations in the neighbourhood have all been closed.

Las Ramblas is a tree-lined pedestrian mall lined with cafes and souvenir kiosks. There are two narrow service roads running along either side of the pedestrian mall.

Whoever did this wanted to cause a lot of damage.Charles Mordret

"Las Ramblas is bit like Sainte-Catherine Street in Montreal,'' said Mordret. "It's the main street, where the tourists are. Whoever did this wanted to cause a lot of damage.''

Politicians around the world, including U.S. President Donald Trump, expressed sadness.

Canadian Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer tweeted: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims. We stand together condemning these horrific acts of terrorism.''

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair called it terrible news: "We stand with Spain and all those impacted by this terror attack.''

This World Humanitarian Day, as the threats to aid workers increase, their protection has not, which is why more and more humanitarians require military-grade survival training to do their job.

We were driving down a bumpy road after having just delivered food commodities at a refugee camp. My colleague and I barely had a moment to find our bearings before we realized we were being ambushed. Shots were fired in every direction while others' fight or flight responses kicked into gear. I simply froze. Amidst all the chaos, I couldn't recall what I was supposed to do when being shot at.

Someone was yelling at the driver to put his foot on the gas, but as he slumped over the steering wheel, I realized he was dead. In a matter of moments my body remembered what to do and, ducking low, I jumped out of the car and ran for cover in nearby bushes.

Through the smoke I could still hear the shots in quick succession, coupled with the panicked yells of my coworkers dashing for cover. I wasn't safe where I was, but the hiding place allowed me a few seconds to plan my next move.

In war-torn "Ganton," scenarios like this are common. But, they're also fake.

In reality, Ganton is a training camp in northern Washington State where humanitarian workers like myself are confronted with armed attacks, gun battles, mass casualties and even kidnappings in various role-playing scenarios. The point of the exercises is to train our so-called muscle memory so that if an actual scenario plays out in one of the areas we work, our bodies would automatically know how to respond.

The chances of that actually happening are minimal. As a media specialist in Canada, I sit behind a computer screen most days, where my biggest safety concern is knowing what to do in a fire drill. However, with occasional travel to hostile places like South Sudan and Somalia, there is still a risk. And no matter how insignificant, it's not a risk World Vision is willing to take without thoroughly preparing staff to be ready for anything, anytime, anywhere.

Almost four Canadas' worth of people don't have the ability to fly home to "normal life" like I did.

HEAT — Hostile Environment Awareness Training — pushed me to the edge of both my mind and my body. With over 200 people involved in role playing and supporting to bring Ganton to life, there were moments when the trusty assurance at the back of my head, telling me this was all fake, simply failed.

Being interrogated during a kidnapping where I was blindfolded and handcuffed was one of those moments. Seeing a child covered in blood (fake) under the wheel of a car was another. When armed men attacked my tent while I slept, I was put on edge for the rest of the training, and a little while after, too.

I came back from Ganton in a daze. It felt strange to pack my backpack with a laptop and notepad when all week it was filled with a GPS, tourniquet and granola bars. Going into the office instead of setting up an operations room in the woods seemed totally trivial. And in assessing my own inability to seamlessly switch back to reality, I couldn't imagine what it's like for those who don't have the luxury to turn off the intensity at all.

Women like me, in places like Syria, South Sudan, Somalia and just too many other countries to name, manage a balancing act of being mom to their kids while being confronted by very real threats that they're trying to protect their children from — threats that aren't too different from the pretend ones we experienced in training in Ganton.

One of those women is Josephine, who I met at a refugee settlement in northern Uganda. She fled South Sudan with her five children when rebels attacked their village and burnt down her house. During this time, she was separated from her husband and had to make the difficult decision to come to Uganda without him. She told me that she wasn't sure if he was dead or alive, and worried about him constantly. On top of her own anxiety, she had to remain strong for her children as they looked to her for support. In my world, words like "conflict," "crisis" and "refugee" remain words, but for so many people, that's life. A record 128 million people face conflict, displacement, natural disasters or profound vulnerability. That's almost four Canadas' worth of people that don't have the ability to fly home to "normal life" like I did.

#NotATarget is the theme for this year's World Humanitarian Day, because all too often that's exactly what both civilians and humanitarians have become. Mothers, fathers, children or responders trying to make a difference, are no longer protected in conflict situations as they should be.

The goal of HEAT training was to prepare me for travel to these types of environments, but it did so much more than that. It gave me a glimpse into awful environment that so many people, humanitarians and civilians, live through every day. And it brought back into focus the reason I chose to work in the humanitarian sector in the first place.

With Greater Toronto house prices falling for three straight months, housing in Canada's largest metro area is becoming more affordable.

But maybe not nearly affordable enough. According to an analysis by property site TheRedPin, your household will need a six-figure income to afford anything but a condo in the region today.

Using an average of house prices from January to July of this year, TheRedPin calculated that affording the average price on a detached home today — $1.15 million — requires a household income of $200,663.

By these calculations, only condos are affordable to households earning less than $100,000 a year. And even for a condo, you'll need $92,925 a year.

Perhaps the worst news here for prospective homebuyers is that the one type of housing that remains somewhere near affordability — condos — is the only part of the market where prices are still growing.

In the May to July period, after the province's new housing rules led to a softening of the market, buyers still needed more income than earlier to afford a condo, about $1,425 more than for the January-July period. By comparison, you needed $11,430 less income to buy a detached home in May-July than for the January-July period.

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TheRedPin's calculations assume a 20-per-cent down payment, and monthly payments that are no more than 32 per cent of a household's gross income.

But the numbers don't mean everyone who is buying a million-dollar home in the GTA today is earning that kind of cash. Many are move-up buyers who are taking advantage of the increased value of their house or condo to upgrade.

Serious challenge for young homebuyers

But for those who aren't yet on the property ladder, Toronto's home affordability crisis continues. Various indexes show houses are the least affordable in the GTA in at least 25 years.

LOS ANGELES — A suspected car thief led police on a chase across Los Angeles before he ditched the vehicle and climbed to the top of a loading crane at the city's port, dangling over edges and stripping naked before falling to his death.

The man fell about 160 feet to the ground and died about three hours after he first scaled the crane Wednesday night. It's not clear whether he slipped or jumped deliberately, Los Angeles fire officials said.

Police in Los Angeles spotted the car reported stolen from a dealership in San Bernardino, and an hours-long chase ensued, the LAPD said.

Several television stations broadcast the chase live, showing the SUV swerving at high speed through freeway traffic in L.A. and Long Beach, sometimes crossing into oncoming lanes.

He drove into the vast complex of the Port of Los Angeles and drove into a terminal, circling back and forth under giant loading cranes and next to a docked ship before jumping out of the still-moving SUV and racing up the stairs of the crane. He broke a window and climbed into the crane cab, then climbed out, walked to the end of the crane over water as darkness fell.

Port workers stopped their labour and watched the scene, some with binoculars.

Police waited below for him for hours, worried that if they approached he might slip or jump.

As news helicopters hovered above, he shed his Lakers jersey and shoes, then later took off the rest of his clothes. He dangled and nearly fell several times before eventually plunging to the ground.

"Our officers were nowhere near to close proximity of the suspect at the time that he fell," Detective Meghan Aguilar said.

The man's name has not been released.

Eric Nosser, a salesman at the Subaru dealership the SUV was stolen from, says he steered clear of the man.

"I let him be, because he seemed on edge," Nosser told KNBC-TV. "I figured he'd just kind of walk off and go about his business."

Instead the man found an SUV with the keys in it, got inside and took off.

LACOLLE, Que. — The number of asylum seekers intercepted at the Quebec-New York border in July nearly quadrupled to 2,996 and shows no sign of slowing down, authorities said Thursday.

In June, the comparable number was 781, Immigration and Citizenship Canada said.

Meanwhile, the RCMP's Claude Castonguay said the force intercepted more than 3,800 irregular entries between Aug. 1 and 15, primarily at Roxham Road in Hemmingford, Que.

"They're unprecedented, we've never seen those numbers," he told a news conference in Lacolle, a Quebec border town at the forefront of the influx of people filing into Canada from the United States.

"Even though our officers are patrolling 24 hours a day, all year long, we've never seen such numbers coming in."

Castonguay said an average of between 200 and 250 people have been crossing each day, compared with about 500 at one point.

We've never seen those numbers.

The vast majority of asylum seekers — between 80 and 85 per cent — are Haitians.

In the United States, the Trump administration is considering ending a program that granted Haitians so-called "temporary protected status" following the massive earthquake that struck in 2010.

Groups that work with migrants say those spilling across the border are fearful of being returned to an uncertain future in Haiti as early as next January.

Many of those people are being lured to Canada with false information about what awaits, Immigration and Citizenship Canada spokesman Louis Dumas told the news conference in Lacolle.

He noted that about 50 per cent of Haitians who sought refugee status in Canada last year were refused.

"Coming to Canada, asking for asylum in Canada is not a guarantee for permanent residency in Canada," Dumas said.

"If people in the States, in certain communities, would like to Canada and become permanent residents, it's very important they do so through the regular channels."

That said, Dumas said those asylum seekers are permitted due process and there is a robust system in place to deal with them.

He noted Canada selects about 300,000 immigrants yearly to come to Canada as permanent residents.

"We are an open and welcoming country," Dumas said.

Situation 'under control': Garneau

At a later news conference in the same area, federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau announced a 300-room temporary shelter will be set up in Cornwall, Ont., while about 20 other immigration officers will be added in Montreal to help cope with the crush.

"It's important Canadians know that this is a situation that, yes, is out of the ordinary, but is very much under control," Garneau said.

The minister also announced that Canadian consulates in the United States will continue to work to ensure that those who want to seek asylum in Canada know the rules in place.

"Unless you are being persecuted or are fleeing terror or war, you would not qualify as a refugee and it's important to combat that misinformation that is out there," he said.

"Imagine if you're a family coming to Canada thinking you just have to come, and you are (then) told you do not qualify, it is a very difficult human drama to live."

Also On HuffPost:

]]>http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/08/17/number-of-asylum-seekers-at-quebec-border-quadrupled-in-july-of_a_23080807/0SfWab23080807Canadian PressAMP: HuffPost CanadaOtherThu, 17 Aug 2017 17:24:00 +000015029907839484550002017-08-17T17:28:16+00:00]]>]]>Operation Backpack is the idea of former 24Hours columnist Laila Yuile.]]>local dentist stepped forward to help the family for free.]]>P.E.I. artist Amy Seymour told HuffPost Canada.]]>gave $10,000 to Edmonton's Mennonite Centre for Newcomers to support their work in helping to resettle incoming Syrian refugees.

The donation helped the group meet its two-month goal in a single day.]]>he intended to spend $1.5 million to privately sponsor 50 Syrian refugee families to come to Canada.

Estill explained he was tired of seeing refugee applications get snarled in long, bureaucratic processes.

"I'm a businessperson, I'm very impatient, and we should just do it now," he said.]]>St. Clare's refugee family sponsorship group.

“Everybody’s very excited about it. Everyone’s been really excited to make things happen.”]]>
He also said he's exploring ways to help Syrians get jobs after they arrive in the city.]]>Keewatin Otchitchak traditional women’s drum group gathered by baggage carousels to greet 17 Syrians to Treaty 1 with a song of welcome.]]>a week after deadly attacks in France and Lebanon.

Thirteen have arrived and are staying at the family's small Scarborough, Ont. bungalow. Soon, nine of the relatives will move out, making room for more relatives to come in.]]>no wedding pictures.

So Bare put a callout on soical media to surprise the high sweethearts with a wedding. Her request spread and within 24 hours people came forward donating a venue, suit, dress, and cake.

"Grateful for a community that makes beautiful things happen," wrote Bare on Instagram below a photo taken at the couple's Saskatoon ceremony.]]>

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is distancing himself from The Rebel, announcing he will no longer do interviews with the controversial right-wing website until it changes its editorial direction.

But the Tory leader has stopped short of explicitly denouncing The Rebel, which is under heightened scrutiny in light of the protests in Charlottesville, Va.

"I am disgusted by the vile comments made by hate groups this past weekend. I believe there is fine line between reporting the facts and giving those groups a platform," Scheer told HuffPost Canada in a statement.

"I have a positive vision for Canada and I want to share that vision with Canadians and talk about issues that unite us all. Until the editorial directions of the Rebel Media changes, I will not grant interviews to the outlet."

Scheer granted interviews to the outlet during the Tory leadership race, as did other contenders. But he has faced pressure in recent days to denounce the website over coverage that was seen as sympathetic to organizers of the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville.

McIntosh issued a release Thursday calling on Scheer to "issue a formal statement denouncing the hateful site, and commit to refuse all future interview requests from them."

The Rebel and it's so-called "commander" Ezra Levant have revelled in controversy since the site was launched in 2015. The outlet stepped into the spotlight even more when it started loudly championing opposition to an anti-Islamophobia motion passed by the House of Commons in March.

Journalist Brian Lilley, who co-founded the site, quit this week over concerns about the "harsh tone" The Rebel has taken and what he called a lack of editorial judgement. He released a statement questioning why a Rebel contributor was at an "anti-Semitic white power rally" dedicated to protecting a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

Heather Heyer, 32, was killed and 19 people were injured after a car plowed into a crowd protesting the white nationalists.

Rebel contributors Barbara Kay and John Robson also quit the site after the weekend's events.

Conservative MP Michael Chong, who ran against Scheer for his party's leadership, told Press Progress he would no longer grant interviews to The Rebel, citing a change in editorial direction that included the "promotion of anti-Semitism, white supremacy, and calling for a democratically-elected premier to be locked up."

Chong was referring to a Rebel-organized protest against Alberta Premier Rachel Notley last December, which featured chants of "lock her up." Chong spoke out against the event at the time.

Global News revealed shortly after Scheer's victory in May that his campaign manager, Hamish Marshall, was listed as a director on The Rebel's federal incorporation records. Levant told The Canadian Press that Marshall, now the campaign manager for Brian Jean's bid to lead Alberta's United Conservative party, is no longer on the board.

Scheer has appeared on The Rebel several times since 2015, including a sit-down in February with Faith Goldy — the reporter whose Charlottesville coverage has sparked so much criticism.The two agreed to go duck hunting this summer around Canada Day.

A van rammed into pedestrians on a popular tourist street in Barcelona Thursday afternoon, killing 13 and injuring more than 100.

Authorities have arrested two suspects, but the driver of the van is still at large.

Car and truck attacks have killed more than 100 people across Europe in recent years.

In Cambrils, 70 miles south of Barcelona, police said they killed four suspects and injured one in what may be an additional attack.

Police said they are investigating possible links between those killed in Cambrils, the attack in Barcelona, and an earlier explosion in the town of Alcanar, 120 miles from Barcelona.

Terrorist violence engulfed a popular tourist thoroughfare on a sunny afternoon in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday when a white van plowed into pedestrians, killing at least 13 people and injuring more than 100 others.

The attack left dozens of people bloody in the streets and prompted others to run from the area, terrified for their lives.

The van "was weaving left and right, trying to hit people as fast as possible," a witness told the BBC.

Two suspects were arrested, Catalonia President Carles Puigdemont said. The driver of the van, however, was still at large as of 11 p.m. local time, according to a tweet from police.

Police said they were investigating possible links between those killed in Cambrils, the attack in Barcelona, and an earlier explosion that destroyed a house in the town of Alcanar, about 120 miles from Barcelona.

The self-described Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Barcelona attack via its Amaq news agency. However, it is unclear to what extent, if any, the group's leadership was directly involved. Police said the incident was a terror attack, but later tweeted they could not confirm the driver's motive.

The attack occurred on Las Ramblas, a historic street leading to a central plaza in Barcelona. A pedestrian walkway runs down the center of the street, with cars driving on either side.

"There was loud bangs and people started running into shops," witness Ethan Spibey told Sky News, describing a "mini stampede" of people running down an alleyway.

Spibey said he was locked into a church with as many as 60 other people, waiting for police to clear the area.

"I heard a crowd screaming," said Tom Markwell, a tourist from New Orleans. "It sounded like they were screaming for a movie star."

Authorities arrested suspects in Ripoll and Alcanar, towns in Catalonia. One is Moroccan and the other is a Spanish national from Melilla, a Spanish city on Africa's north coast that neighbors Morocco, police Chief Josep Lluis Trapero said in a news conference.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy urged people to focus on serving the wounded and facilitating the work of authorities. He later tweeted that he was heading to Barcelona, and said the government would take measures to reinforce security. The government declared three days of mourning.

The attack was the deadliest in Spain since 2004, when al Qaeda-inspired militants detonated bombs on Madrid's subway system, killing 191 and injuring more than 1,800.

Car and truck attacks have killed more than 100 people in separate incidents across Europe in recent years. Extremist groups have long advocated for their supporters to use vehicles to target pedestrians, and authorities have struggled with ways to address the threat.

The majority of the recent attacks in Europe were carried out by Islamic State militant group sympathizers, and the organization has actively incited individuals to kill people with vehicles. In the deadliest of such incidents, the Islamic State claimed responsibility after a man drove a truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the French city of Nice and killed 84 people.

World leaders issued condemnations of the attack, as well as offers of support for Spain. British Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel all voiced their sympathy for the victims.

President Donald Trump also tweeted a statement on the attack, saying that United States would do whatever is necessary to help. But shortly after his measured initial statement, Trump tweeted a tirade against "Radical Islamic Terror" and referenced an apocryphal story he's told in the past about killing Muslim insurgents with bullets dipped in pig's blood.

Bell Canada is standing by a decision to name its new mobile TV service "Alt TV," despite criticism from some on social media that the name evokes the "alt-right" white nationalist movement.

Bell announced the launch of Alt TV in May. For $14.95 a month, subscribers can stream up to 500 TV channels to their mobile devices. The plan is available only to subscribers of Bell Fibe Internet.

Critics pointed out at the time that the name could have negative connotations for some. But the violent incidents in Charlottesville, Va. last weekend that left 32-year-old Heather Heyer dead has renewed focus on the "alt-right," a far right movement that rejects traditional conservatism in favour of white nationalism.

Bell Canada is again coming under pressure for a name some commenters called "tone deaf."

Increasingly, current events are making "Alt TV" from @Bell seem like the tone deaf product naming gaffe of the year.

In an email to HuffPost Canada, a Bell spokesperson explained the service's name "refers to the fact that a live TV streaming service is a new alternative" to traditional TV services.

"The name was actually chosen through an internal contest we held earlier this year with new hires in Bell's grad student program," the spokesperson wrote.

But some market experts are wondering how Bell could have overlooked the "alt-right" connotations of the name.

"I don't understand how this passed muster, given that Bell has been pretty careful about what it names things, and is a pretty conservative company when it comes to getting noticed for the wrong reasons," Mobile Nations tech analyst Daniel Bader told CBC News in May.

Bell would not say if the company has any plans to rebrand the service.

According to USA Today, there are more than 700 Confederate monuments installed in public areas across 31 states. Washington, D.C.; Lexington, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; Birmingham, Alabama; and other places are taking steps to remove their monuments.

Baltimore quietly removed its remaining Confederate monuments Tuesday night in the wake of the Charlottesville incident. On Monday night, protesters tore down a Confederate monument in Durham, North Carolina.

"You really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?" Trump asked.

His tweets on the issue came after White House chief strategist Steve Bannon told The New York Times he thought Trump could win a battle with "the left" over the statues, arguing Trump's rhetoric "connects with the American people about their history, culture and traditions."

"The race-identity politics of the left wants to say it's all racist," Bannon said. "Just give me more. Tear down more statues. Say the revolution is coming. I can't get enough of it."

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - While Mexican government negotiators fought tooth and nail to save the North American Free Trade Agreement during talks in Washington, thousands of Mexican farmers and workers took to the streets on Wednesday demanding the deal be scrapped.

Carrying banners that read "No to the FTA," and decorated with images of the distinctive hairstyles of U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto, the protesters said the 1994 deal had devastated Mexican farms.

"We are against the treaty and the renegotiation because it has not benefited the country," said university union spokesman Carlos Galindo, reflecting views widely held in the early years of the trade pact.

In a sign of that mistrust, on Jan. 1, 1994, the Zapatista guerrilla army launched an armed uprising opposing free trade to mark the first day of NAFTA.

The fervor has faded and most Mexicans, including leading leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador who will run for president next year, now broadly support a deal which has led to job growth, especially in the auto manufacturing sector.

A recent poll found most Mexicans wanted to save NAFTA.

Mexico's government is keen to maintain preferential access to the United States and Canada, where nearly 85 percent of its exports are shipped.

However, much like in America's rust belt, Mexico's small, mainly indigenous farmers have not forgotten painful competition they blame on the free trade deal.

"The great loser in these last 23 years has been Mexico, above all, the small farmers," said Ernesto Ladron de Guevara, speaking for one peasant farmers union at a park across from Mexico's Foreign Ministry.

His union is pushing for NAFTA's fate to face a public vote, possibly to coincide with next year's July presidential election and, if the deal survives, wants it to exclude anything related to agriculture and food production.

Mexico now imports some $18.5 billion of agriculture products every year, making it one of the most important markets for U.S. farmers.

That makes U.S. rural states key supporters of the pact, making it harder for Trump to follow his declared instinct to rip it up in favor U.S. blue-collar workers who feel jobs have flooded south.

"The great loser in these last 23 years has been Mexico, above all, the small farmers."Ernesto Ladron de Guevara

While some Mexican agriculture such as large-scale livestock farms and horticulture has flourished under NAFTA, others, especially small scale grains producers, have found it hard to compete with U.S. imports.

"The effects of the treaty have been negative for the country's indigenous people," said Jose Narro Cespedes, a small farmers' representative.

Other protesters emphasized that Mexico needs to pay attention to itself, rather than outside trade partners.

"We need to focus on the internal economy," said Galindo. "We're a sweat-shop country, and the whole world knows it. The only thing we're doing is exporting."

A memo to staff Wednesday about his departure from the top job said the company's goal is to create a path to emerge from creditor protection.

Interested buyers have until the end of August to submit bids under its court-supervised restructuring.

"In light of the approaching bid deadline and the focus required to assemble all necessary components of a bid, the board thought it was best for Brandon to focus exclusively on putting the bid together and step away from the day-to-day operations of Sears Canada," wrote Graham Savage, chair of the board's special committee.

Sears Canada's chief operating officer, Becky Penrice, will take over his duties.

The retailer filed for court protection under the Companies Creditors' Arrangement Act in June. It's looking for a buyer or investor for the company or some of its assets and is also negotiating with lenders, landlords and other creditors.

The retailer announced a plan in June to close 59 locations across the country and cut approximately 2,900 jobs, without severance, while under CCAA.

On Tuesday, the company created a $500,000 hardship fund for former employees who were denied severance payments when they lost their jobs at the retailer. The money will come from cash set aside for executive bonuses.

Sears Canada was criticized when it received court approval to pay $9.2 million in retention bonuses to keep key employees on board while not paying severance to laid-off workers.

Several leadership changes recently

The company plans to finish liquidation sales by Oct. 12 and hopes to complete its restructuring this year.

Once a retail go-to, Sears Canada has struggled in recent years despite efforts to change along with the retail business.

The company has also dealt with several changes in executive leadership over the last four years.

SASKATOON — There are calls for the head of an Indigenous veterans group to step down because of controversial social media posts about gay people, Muslims and women.

Jesse Donovan, who was a reservist from 2011 to 2013, has started a petition saying Richard Blackwolf should resign as president of the Canadian Aboriginal Veterans and Serving Members Association.

"His group claims to represent me, so that is very troubling to me to see someone who purports to be my leader making these discriminatory, hateful statements which I completely disagree with," Donovan said Wednesday.

Blackwolf and the Canadian Aboriginal Veterans and Serving Members Association could not immediately be reached for comment.

His group claims to represent me, so that is very troubling to me to see someone who purports to be my leader making these discriminatory, hateful statements which I completely disagree with.Jesse Donovan

Donovan's concern started when he saw posts on Blackwolf's Facebook page. The posts are no longer up, but Donovan took screen grabs of the images.

One post said the Calgary Pride parade was a "parade of mutations and deviations" and a graphic also posted suggested Islam only offers violent acts such as beheadings.

Donovan, a research assistant at the University of Saskatchewan law school, says the post about Islam is "a gross misrepresentation of the religion."

"It's very strange coming from the leader of a veterans organization, because forming relationships with the Muslim communities in countries like Afghanistan is very important without denigrating their religion," said Donovan.

'Perilously close to hate speech'

He said he feels the post about the Calgary Pride parade "comes perilously close to hate speech."

"What that does is dehumanizes and vilifies a segment of society that has already experienced considerable discrimination throughout history."

Another post was sexist towards women with left-wing political views, said Donovan.

The post, above a picture of U.S. President Donald Trump's wife, Melania, and his daughter, Ivanka, read: "The further left you go the Ugly index increases Exponentially" compared to the "well maintained beautiful and intelligent women on the Right."

When Nicole Dumontet found out the Clinton family would be staying at the renowned Manoir Hovey in the small Quebec town of North Hatley, booking a room at the same time was the only option.

"I have to be frank with you," the Montrealer said in an interview. "We came because the Clintons were here."

Dumontet, who has actually vacationed at the inn for 20 years, saw the Clintons up close Tuesday, eating breakfast at the table next to former U.S. president Bill Clinton, ex-secretary of state Hillary Clinton, their daughter Chelsea and her grandchildren.

She said Hillary Clinton told her she found the area of Quebec very beautiful and that Quebecers are nice people.

The former president said the family went out on Lake Massawippi on Tuesday, calling it "beautiful."

"It's very interesting, what's developed, what's not," he said. "For most people it's a very deep lake because it's a glacier lake. These are relatively rare. There are only a few lakes in America as deep as this. It's quite beautiful."

He said the plan over the next few days is to "do as little as possible, except play with our grandchildren and have a good time."

Clinton, who turns 71 on Saturday, said says he hopes he can see former prime minister Jean Chretien on his birthday.

A white nationalist featured in a gripping VICE News documentary on the Charlottesville, Va. "Unite the Right" rally says he's worried about going out in public and is concerned about the possibility of getting arrested.

Christopher Cantwell appeared in a video posted to YouTube on Wednesday, saying police won't confirm whether there is a warrant out for his arrest.

"I don't know what to do," he says, appearing to hold back tears. He adds that he has contacted police in Keene, N.H. for "guidance."

Cantwell expresses frustration in the clip over how some media outlets have branded the rally violent, and insists that isn't the case.

"We have done everything in our power to keep this peaceful," he says in the video. "We've been fucking assaulted, they've been threatening us all over the place."

White supremacists, neo-Nazis, and their supporters descended on the rally last Friday to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee in downtown Charlottesville. Some held torches, others chanted "Jews will not replace us."

Clashes soon erupted between those groups and counter-protesters. The violence reached a tragic peak when 32-year-old Heather Heyer was killed and 19 others were injured after a car rammed into a group of counter-protesters.

James Alex Fields, 20, was arrested in connection to the incident and charged with second-degree murder.

In the interview with VICE's Elle Reeve, which aired on Monday, Cantwell says his group did not "aggress."

"We did not initiate force against anyone," he says, before adding that his group is "not nonviolent" and will "fucking kill these people if we have to."

Toward the end of his latest video, Cantwell urges law enforcement officials to reach him and tell him what to do next.

"I'm armed. I do not want violence with you. I'm terrified," he says.

"I'm afraid you're going to kill me, I really am."

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said Cantwell contacted police in Keene, Va. He contacted police in Keene, N.H.

"Nazism and White supremacism are absolutely evil and we condemn them clearly. Canada deplores, denounces and opposes nazis and White supremacists and their ideology of hatred wherever they exists," she said.

Freeland visited Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in his office while she was in Washington for the opening round of NAFTA talks.

Tillerson opened his remarks by noting that Canada and the U.S. are close friends with shared values — values that include freedom and tolerance.

He said he wanted to add his condemnation over what happened in Virginia, where white supremacists gathered and an anti-racism protester was killed when a car plowed into a crowd of people.

Freeland offered her condolences, along with what she called an unequivocal condemnation of racist hatred.

She said it's important to speak out publicly against acts of hatred — to which Canada, she noted, is not immune, citing the case of the recent Quebec City mosque massacre.

Both ignored a shouted question about whether they agreed with the controversial nature of how the events were addressed by President Donald Trump.

With files from Althia Raj.

Also On HuffPost:

]]>http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/08/16/chrystia-freeland-rex-tillerson-condemn-violence-and-racism-in_a_23079775/0SfWab23079775Canadian PressAMP: HuffPost CanadaOtherWed, 16 Aug 2017 21:11:00 +000015029180750787350002017-08-17T13:06:22+00:00]]>]]>Recently, a gay colleague in the Edmonton interfaith circles reminisced on his experience with a young Muslim woman at the University of Alberta. She had told him about her respect for human rights, but also claimed that, under Islamic law, the punishment for homosexuality holds under stipulated conditions.

This opinion is more commonplace as young Muslims negotiate the space between modernity and tradition. A video showcasing Norwegian Muslims from 2013 shows how the entire room full of people raised their hands to affirm Islamic punishments on homosexuality. Under media scrutiny, Muslims who make such assertions often defend themselves by claiming that they were "misunderstood."

Such opinions amongst young, educated Muslims in the West do not leave a favourable impression of Islam. My gay colleague is now adamant that the Muslim position of supporting human rights in the West, while casually condoning harsh Islamic punishments in Muslim countries, is hypocritical.

Such dichotomous opinions amongst Muslims make the task of Muslims who affirm religiously plural, gender-equal and LGBTQ-affirming spaces quite difficult. This further emboldens Islamophobes to generalize all Muslims and ignore the good work done by groups like Muslims for Progressive Values, Universalist Muslims and their allied sister groups.

Orlando presented an opportunity for Muslims and LGBTQ communities to unite in the face of hate. Post -Orlando, Muslim leaders did come out condemning homophobia.

However, LGBTQ Muslims, the people most qualified to bring the two communities together, continue to be sidelined and at best patronized as dealing with a heavy burden.

A dialogue with mainstream Muslim community leaders and stakeholders is needed if we are to avoid the ghettoization of LGBTQ Muslims.

On their part, some LGBTQ Muslim activists tell their stories in the media hoping that such a powerful medium would melt hearts and effect change. Other LGBTQ Muslim activists shy away from a dialogue with mainstream Muslim community leaders perhaps because they do not feel qualified enough in Islamic discourse. Alternatively, perhaps knowing the dismal outcome, they fear that such efforts would only stoke more Islamophobia.

Yet, a dialogue with mainstream Muslim community leaders and stakeholders is needed if we are to avoid the ghettoization of LGBTQ Muslims, stuck between homophobes and Islamophobes.

Defensiveness must give way to reasonable discourse.

There are very few brave Muslim voices who put themselves out there to effect change. They are often ignored by Islamophobes who find that they break their putrid narrative. Some Muslims also ignore such voices that challenge the status quo. This leaves the courageous Muslims to stand on their own, doing a thankless job and at the risk of grave personal consequences.

One such courageous person is 75-year-old Frank Parmir, who heads Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV) in Columbus, Ohio. In June, he was expelled from the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an umbrella Muslim organization.

For the ISNA convention, Parmir's group MPV had partnered with Human Rights Campaign (HRC), an organization that openly campaigns for sexual minorities in the United States. Parmir had MPV brochures that include advocacy of female imams, inclusive prayer spaces for all including LGBTQ, freedom of expression and freedom of conscience.

Despite all their claims on inclusivity and human rights, ISNA officials told him to leave, as according to them "the convention was a religious, private and family oriented event."

His expulsion clearly confirms that the post-Orlando Muslim condemnation of homophobia was merely a PR campaign under media scrutiny, for such words have never been translated to efforts on supporting LGBTQ Muslims.

While Christian ministers and Jewish Rabbis increasingly affirm their LGBTQ co-religionists, such efforts are virtually absent in the Muslim world. This has allowed for Muslims without formal seminary training to assume honorific titles and call for reforms. Yet, such efforts are often seen as foreign and antithetical to Muslim values.

For meaningful change, efforts must emerge from within the mainstream Muslim community leaders and elders. On their part, influential straight Muslims like Mehdi Hasan, Haroon Moghul, Wajahat Ali and Linda Sarsour, along with a whole array of Muslim academics and Imams, must include groups like Muslims for Progressive Values and Universalist Muslims in their spaces and allow for a fertile cross-pollination of ideas. Likewise, LGBTQ Muslim activists should not be shy to meet them as equal partners in conversations, and at the very least stand by and support brave Muslims like Frank Parmir.

In conclusion, Muslims should recognize the double standard of accepting LGBTQ persons but rejecting LGBTQ Muslims.

TORONTO — A Toronto teen who drowned on a school-run camping trip this summer had not passed a required swimming test, the Toronto District School Board said Wednesday.

John Malloy, the board's director of education, said Jeremiah Perry was among 15 students who failed the mandatory test for the multi-day trip to Algonquin Park in July.

Perry, a 15-year-old student at C.W. Jeffreys Collegiate Institute, was swimming in a lake when he disappeared under the water and did not resurface. His body was found by search and rescue crews a day later.

Of the 32 students on the trip, only 15 passed the swim test, and two had no documentation for the test at all, the TDSB said.

"I'm deeply troubled by these findings, that such a critical safety requirement in our procedures appears not to have been followed," Malloy said.

"On behalf of the TDSB, I offer our most sincere apology and regret. I also want to apologize to the families of the other students who went on the trip, even though they did not pass the swim test."

"I know that Jeremiah's family wants us to take steps to ensure that this will never happen again."John Malloy, TDSB director of education

Malloy said TDSB students are supposed to take a second swim test if they fail the first one, but he said a second test was never provided or offered to Perry and the other students who failed.

Two teachers who were on the trip have been placed on home assignment as a result of the incident, Malloy said.

"I know that Jeremiah's family wants us to take steps to ensure that this will never happen again," he said, noting that new procedures have already been put in place.

Parents will now be notified whether their child passed or failed a mandatory swim test before a trip, and school principals are required to see a list of students who passed or failed a swim test before a trip.

Malloy provided the information Wednesday as part of an ongoing internal investigation at the TDSB that was launched after Perry's death.

"Bigotry and racism are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today," Lee wrote at the time.

"But, unlike a team of costumed supervillains, they can't be halted with a punch in the snoot or a zap from a ray gun. The only way to destroy them, is to expose them — to reveal from the insidious evil they really are."

Lee, who helped create some of Marvel's most renowned superheroes including Spider-man and X-Men, wrote that while people were allowed to dislike one another for individual actions, only irrational people would spread hate onto an entire group.

People applauded Lee for sharing the decades-old column in a particularly resonant time — with people debating how to best deal with neo-Nazis and white supremacy and a country deeply divided over political and social issues.

Aiken, a Democrat who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2014, previously said he liked Trump even though they disagreed about politics. In 2015, Aiken told CNN that he considered Trump to be a friend, but said he's like "that uncle, who embarrasses the hell out of you sometimes and you still love them, but damn, you wish they'd shut up."

'We all have relationships with people in the White House'

They have dined together. They've met more than half a dozen times and they are in frequent contact.

"I'm not going to expand on specific individual relationships, but what I can tell you is... there was an effort made by our government to establish good relationships across the board," Trudeau's spokesman Cameron Ahmad told HuffPost Wednesday.

"It has been well known for quite a while that our office has made a concerted effort to establish a constructive working relationship with our counterparts in the White House and the same can be said about the prime minister and the president, same can be said with ministers who have been working with their counterparts," Ahmad added.

More from HuffPost Canada:

While Ahmad didn't mention it, Trudeau's chief of staff Katie Telford is close with Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, as well as his daughter, Ivanka.

"We all have relationships with people in the White House... It's our job," said a staffer.

The Liberals were highly critical of former prime minister Stephen Harper and his office for being unable to get along with then U.S. President Barack Obama and his team because their agendas were often unaligned.

After the prime minister's visit to the White House in February, Trudeau's team credited their courtship of Trump's advisers for obtaining two key objectives: a public recognition of the importance of the Canada-U.S. economic relationship, and a pledge from Trump that he would treat Canada differently than Mexico in trade talks.

Butts, a socially liberal environmentalist, may not appear to have much in common with Bannon. The former head of the far-right website Breitbart News, Bannon has been criticized for making racist and anti-Muslim comments.

Yet, the two have found common ground.

"He's a pretty easy guy to get along with to be honest," said a source closely familiar with the relationship. "[Bannon]'s like a working-class kid from Virginia. Grew up a Democrat. Joined the military, became a Republican."

While Butts, Trudeau's principal secretary, is a former president of the World Wildlife Fund, and previous principal secretary to Liberal Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty, he also grew up in Cape Breton, the son of a coal miner and of a nurse who tended to the miners.

"The problems [Bannon] thinks are problems, are the same problems we think are problems: that regular people have gotten screwed over by the economy, the system is rigged," said a Liberal at the time when asked about the Butts-Bannon relationship. "He just has a different approach to resolutions than we do."

Both Butts and Bannon are credited with crafting their bosses' electoral strategies — including Trudeau's (now fulfilled pledge) to raise taxes on the rich in order to boost benefits to the middle class. That promise was partly the subject Lizza's piece, where he appears to credit Butts with giving Bannon the idea of taxing rich as a successful ploy.

'Bannon sees Butts as a sort of left-wing version of himself': The New Yorker

"Bannon sees Butts as a sort of left-wing version of himself. Last year, as the Prime Minister's popularity was in decline, Trudeau pushed through a tax hike on the rich, and it helped him rebound," Lizza writes. (The timing Lizza refers to is incorrect. This was a promise made in the months leading up to the 2015 election campaign at a time where the Liberals were trailing the NDP in the polls).

"There's nothing better for a populist than a rich guy raising taxes on rich guys," Butts is quoted telling Bannon.

That quote and the closeness of their relationship appeared to irk a few political opponents.

On Twitter, Matthew Green, a Hamilton city councillor who supports Ontario MPP Jagmeet Singh's bid to become federal NDP leader, urged Butts to "strongly refute claims of being BFF with Steve Bannon and to denounce his ties to white supremacy."

The idea of Butts advising Bannon, however, was described by a Liberal source as "ridiculous." Still, it's not hard to see how discussing the Liberals' successful strategy of having a wealthy individual campaign on taxing the 1 per cent might be an example Bannon, a populist, wants to champion for Trump.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. ― "Gone but not forgotten," read a sign above Charlottesville's Paramount Theater Wednesday, as hundreds gathered to pay homage to Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old killed over the weekend during a violent rally in the city.

Many mourners wore purple, Heyer's favorite color. Photos of Heyer flashed on the screen ― posing with friends, on the beach, out to dinner, holding a baby.

"She loved people. She wanted equality. And this issue of the day of her passing she wanted to put down hate," her father, Mark Heyer, said while holding back tears. "We just need to stop all this stuff and forgive each other."

Kathy Brinkley, a close friend of Heyer's mother, said the young woman "lost her life defending the lives of people." Heyer's grandfather, Elwood Shrader, recalled that Heyer had a passion for justice at an early age, calling out inequalities wherever she saw them.

President Donald Trump spoke out again about Heyer, whom he called an "incredible young woman" during a Tuesday news conference, in a tweet Wednesday:

Memorial service today for beautiful and incredible Heather Heyer, a truly special young woman. She will be long remembered by all!

"She always had a very strong sense of right and wrong. She always, even as a child, was very caught up in what she believed to be fair," her mother, Susan Bro, told HuffPost in an exclusive interview on Sunday. "Somehow I almost feel that this is what she was born to be, is a focal point for change. I'm proud that what she was doing was peaceful. She wasn't there fighting with people."

White supremacists and members of the alt-right had planned a "Unite The Right" rally Saturday to protest the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in downtown Charlottesville. They clashed with counter-protesters throughout the weekend, culminating in an attack by James Alex Fields Jr., a 20-year-old Nazi sympathizer. Fields drove a car through the crowds, killing Heyer and injuring 19 others. He has been charged with second-degree murder.

Leaders of white nationalist and neo-Nazi movements have failed to decry Heyer's death, instead hailing Saturday's demonstration as a success and blaming law enforcement for not respecting their right to free speech.

They tried to kill my child to shut her up. Well guess what? You just magnified her. Heather Heyer's mother

Bro reminisced during the memorial about the close relationship she had with her daughter. "She paid attention. She made a lot of us pay attention," she said. "She and I would talk, and I would listen and we would negotiate."

"Although Heather was a caring and compassionate person, so are a lot of you," Bro said. "And I think the reason that what happened to Heather has struck a chord is because we know that what she did is achievable. They tried to kill my child to shut her up. Well guess what? You just magnified her."

"By golly, if I've got to give her up, we're going to make it count," Bro said.

Joshua Roberts / Reuters

A man wears a purple ribbon to remember Heather Heyer, who was killed protesting during a white supremacist rally, as he arrives for her memorial service at the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 16, 2017.

Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images

The Paramount Theater marquee bears the name of Heather Heyer.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

Heather Heyer's mother, Susan Bro, walks by a picture of her daughter after speaking at her memorial service.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

Mourners gather inside the Paramount Theater.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

Heather Heyer's father, Mark Heyer, speaks at her memorial service.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

Mourners inside the Paramount Theater wear purple, as Heyer's family had requested. Purple was her favorite color.

Joshua Roberts / Reuters

People line up to attend the memorial service.

Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images

Marcus Martin (center), who was injured in the same car attack that killed Heyer, leaves the memorial service.